extremely difficult to apply in practice and would ultimately lead to lawsuits filed against attorneys general and line prosecutors alike. if there are no further questions-- >> thank you, general. the case is submitted. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> president obama handed out awards wednesday at the white house for lifetime achievement in the arts and humanities. honorees include producer quincy jones and a sunny rollins. the males are presented each year. this is about 30 minutes -- the metals are presented each year. this is about 30 minutes.

>> ladies and gentlemen, the president and mrs. obama. ♪ [applause] >> thank you very much, everyone. hello, everybody. it is wonderful to have all of you here. i want to make mention of some folks in particular that have helped us to celebrate the arts and humanities for many years. first of all, are democratic leader in the house of

religions, nancy pelosi, a great champion of the arts is here. [applause] the chairman of the national endowment for the arts is here. the chairman of the national endowment for the humanities is here. [applause] the two most powerful people in the white house, joe biden and michelle obama, are here. [applause] and two recipients who were unable to be here but who we love. i want to make sure they are acknowledged. meryl streep and harper lee will not be here today, but they will

be receiving their words as well. -- receiving their awards as well. i was told by my wife that i went all program, because originally we were supposed to get everybody seated and i was supposed to come in and make my formal remarks. i made my way through to see the honorees before they came out, because they are extraordinary people. one of the great joys of being president is getting the chance to pay tribute to the artist's, authors, poets, and performers who have touched our hearts and open our minds, or in the case of quincy jones and james taylor, set the mood. one of the people we honor today, joyce carol oates, said "ours is the nation so rare in

human history, of self- determination, a theoretical experiment in news, exploration, discovery." that is what we do. for more than two back centuries, this experiment has been conducted by revolutionaries and pioneers, by immigrants who braved hardship and inventors who tested new ideas, soldiers who fought for our freedom, and ordinary citizens who marched for their rights. but we are here today because these men and women were not alone in these struggles. with them were the stories that sparked their imaginations, the poetry, the music that inspired their causes, the works of art, literature that spoke to their condition, and affirmed their

desire for something else. i speak personally because there are people here whose books or poetry or works of history shaped thme. i have these dumb-warrant editions of these works of art -- thumb-worn editions before they went digital that helped inspire me or get me through a tough day or take risks that i might not otherwise have taken. i think what is true for me is true for everyone here and true for our country. the fact is that works of art and literature, works of history speak to our condition and affirm our desire for

something more. it was the writings of thomas paine that general washington ordered his men to read before crossing the delaware. it was spirituals sung by slaves around a campfire that helped to keep hope alive. we can think of the protest songs that tell the of stories of the civil rights movement, a photograph from the great depression that showed how folks were suffering, but also how they were striving. time and again, the tools of change and of progress, revolution. they are not just pickaxes and hammers and screens and software but they have also been cameras and guitars. the arts and humanities help us through the hard times. they remind us of what made the

good times worthwhile. after all, the gold is not always have to be so lofty. sometimes we just need a break, a chance to laugh or escape from the moment. so all of the individuals that we honor today are part of this tradition. we can point to their performances on stage or on film that we carry with us forever, because we have been so moved. we can think of the novels that have chronicled the american experience from the streets of new york to the courts of alabama. how many young people have come to see the senseless cruelty of racism and the importance of standing up for what is right through the eyes of a girl named scout? how many young people have learned to think my reading the

exploits of port loyd and his complaints. [laughter] we also remember the earth that challenged our assumptions, the scholarship that brought us closer to the events of our history, the poetry that we loved, or at least the poetry that we might recite to our girlfriends to seem deep. of course, we still hum the great songs by musicians in this room, songs that have been a sound track of our lives over decades. that is why i am so proud to have this opportunity to celebrate the contributions that all of you have made to our country.

we have to remember that our strength as a people runs deeper than our military might, runs deeper than our gdp. it is also about our values and our ideals that each generation is called to a poll, and that each artist helps us better understand. it is also about the capacity of the arts and humanities to connect us to one another. in a nation as big as ours, as diverse as ours, as full of debate and consternation as it sometimes is, what the people we are here today remind us of is that colonel of ourselves that connects to everyone else and allows us to get out of ourselves, to see through somebody else's eyes, to step in their shoes.

ist's more riley agree it therefore democracy than that? in 1962, in the last months of his lives -- in the last month of his life, robert frost was dispatched by president kennedy to the soviet union. it was a gesture of goodwill. he traveled in a breeding. would he really wanted to do was have a chance to talk to khrushchev. frost was a poet but he was also a pretty tough guy. it was not until the end of his trip that the meeting was arranged. even though frost was frail and sick, when they met, he decided he had to speak his mind to the soviet leader. frost stood up and he said, "a great nation makes great poetry ." then he told khrushchev that he should reunite east and west berlin. a great nation should make write

poetry. like so many artists and musicians and writers and poets before and who came after, he was not afraid to say his piece or speak truth to power. he was not afraid to tell what was on his mind. he was not held back by convention or what was considered normal or acceptable. that is an incredible power, an incredible resource. we are seeing that power all across the world today. that is what challenges and pushes us to be better, to be more faithful, to have a sense of humanity that so often can be lost in the experiences of our daily lives. blessed are they to see beautiful things in humble places. that is the blessing of those that we honor here today, and we are blessed that they are able to share what they see and what they hear. so now it is my privilege to

to the these metaldals recipients in both the arts and humanities. [applause] >> the 2010 national medal of arts recipients, robert christy. [applause] the 2010 national medal of arts for his contributions to the american theater as a critic, producer, playwright, and educator. as a founder of the american repertory theater and as a former theater critic for the new republicans, 1959, mr. brustein has been a leading force in the development of

theater and theater artist in the united states. [applause] van cliburn. [applause] the 2010 national medal of arts to van cliburn for his contributions as one of the greatest pianists in the history of music and a pervasive ambassador for american culture. since his historic 1958 victory at the first international tchaikovsky competition in moscow, mr. cliburn has reached across political frontiers with the universal message of beautiful music. [applause]

the 2010 millibars for his achievements as one of the most prominent american artist to emerge from the abstract expressionist era. his sculptures depict a strong political and social vision, demonstrating the power of the artist to improve our world. [applause] donald hall [applause] .

for his extensive contributions to american poetry. her illustrious career as a poet laureate of the nine states from 2010 -- from 2006 to 2007, he has enhanced the role of poetry in our lives [applause] . accepting for jacob's pillow dance festival. [applause]

the 2010 national medal of arts to jacob's pillow dance festival for contributions to development of dance in the united states as america's longest-running international dance festival. thousands of people of all ages from across the united states and the world have jacob's pillow to thank for opening their horizons to dance. [applause] quincy jones. [applause] the 2010 national medal of arts to quincy jones for his extraordinary contributions to american music as a regent -- musician, composer, record producer and arranger. as a master inventor of musical hybrids, he has mixed pop, soul,

african and jazz music to virtually every medium. [applause] sonny rollins. [applause] the 2010 national medal of arts to sonny rollins for his contributions to american jazz music, recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians, his playing

style and solos have delighted audiences and influenced generations of musicians for over 50 years. [applause] james taylor. [applause] the 2010 national medal of arts to james taylor for his remarkable contributions to american music. his distinctive voice and masterful guitar playing are among the most recognized and popular music and his expensive catalog of songs has had for a profound influence on songwriters and music lovers from all walks of life. [applause]

the 2010 national humanities medal recipients. excepting for it daniel aaron. [applause] the 2010 national humanitarian -- eumenides metal to daniel aaron. as the founding president of the lover of america, he has helped publish america's most significant writing. [applause] the 2010 national humanities

metal to bernard bailyn for pioneering the field of land in history. his books have open minds to the story of our country's earliest days. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal for his distinguished career as a scholar, educator, and public intellectual. one of the leaders in the field of cultural history, his decades of teaching in dozens of books have engaged countless readers across our nation. [applause]

lindell eikenberrwendell e. ber. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal for his achievement as a poet, novelist, former, and conservationists. the author of more than 40 books, mr. barry has spent his career exploring our relationship with the land and communities. [applause]

the 2010 national amenities metal for his contributions to spanish and latin american literary criticism. his theory of latin-american their tips is among the most widely cited scholarly works and hispanic literature. [applause] the 2010 national humanities for career in fostering public support for the

humanities. he has expanded the organization's programs and helped forge ties among libraries, museums, and foundations. [applause] joyce carol oates. [applause] the 2010 national humanities metal to joyce carol oates for her contributions to american art. she has been honored with the national book award for excellence. [applause]

the 2010 national humanities medal for his work as a biographer and lyrically. his award winning books have profiled langston hughes, jackie robinson, and he has edited critical editions, works of richard wright and langston hughes. [applause] philip roth. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal to philip roth for his

contributions to american letters. he is the author of 24 novels and won the 1998 pulitzer surprise. his criticism has appeared in our leading literary journals. [applause] gordon wood. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal for scholarship that provides insight into the founding of our nation and the drafting of the u.s. constitution. he has been rather an editor of 18 books and earned a pulitzer prize.

[applause] >> i think it is entirely appropriate for all of us to stand and give a warm congratulations to the recipients. not the recipients, you don't have to stand. [applause] congratulations to all the recipients. we are going to take some quick pictures with them, and then usually we have a party around here.

our marine band is a very good, and the food is pretty good around here, to pre enjoy yourselves, and helped -- thanks for helping celebrate with these extraordinary men and women of the arts. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] ♪ ♪

>> next, the national annual press foundation awards dinner. from the weekly dress is by president obama and tennessee represented diane black. then a portrait unveiling for former senate majority leader bill frist. tomorrow on "washington journal," frank luntz talks about his book. randi weingarten talks about collective bargaining and the impact of budget cuts on teachers. sheila krumholz identifies the individual donating and

spurring political movements around the country. >> i find more and more at the behavior of professional sports owners to be unseemly in the sense that they want hundreds of millions of dollars from the community and yet they don't really participate in the problems of those communities. >> this sunday on "q&a" sally jenkins on the intersection of sports and public policy. >> over 1000 middle and high school students entered this year's documentary competition. the theme, washington d.c. through my lands. c-span will announce the winners of the competition wednesday morning during our "washington journal" program. >> the 28 annual national press foundation award dinner was held earlier this week at the

washington hilton hotel here in the nation's capital. among this year's honorees, andrea mitchell, dana-from cnn, it gilbert gross hon. and others gilbert grosvenor.inne >> my grandfather tweeted me this morning and said for all of you to pay attention, because what he is going to tell you tonight is how congress is battling over raising the federal debt. let's listen to the tape. >> now, before congress, here is another request. we had one last year.

we had to retrieve the year before, cray to raise your debt. they want to raise its to $332 billion. i suppose the only time we never had public debt was in the days of andrew jackson as president of the united states. other than that, i have no recollection that we have been without a debt, but never of the physical proportions that we have today. last year we had $328 billion. the treasury and the administration want to add four billion dollars to that limit. as of this moment i think we have about $319 billion.

we have a temporary limits, and actual limit, and a permanent limit. if congress did nothing about the debt, if the debt level would go back to $285 billion. last year the permanent debt ceiling -- if we did, we would be so far shy of what we , that it would constitute a kind of repudiation. not only our own country but other countries as well, so now we are concerned and really -- newly call to raise the public debt by a level of four billion dollars. [laughter] >> so all you have to do is change the numbers and the story is the same. is it your debt, our debt, and

congress is deciding what to do with your debt and our debt and our money. so nothing changes, except everything. our first winner tonight for best reporting of congress is brody mullins. [applause] broda is from the wall street journal. brody won this award four years ago, and so much has changed, but nothing has changed. it is an interesting conundrum. as i said, brodie is from the wall street journal. he wrote a series of stories documenting what lawmakers do when they travel overseas on official business.

brody? these guys want to do their speech together. tim farnam wrote the series, and you are all familiar with that. tim and brody are going to give you much better understanding of what they did, but i salute them for excellence in journalism and the best reporting of congress, which is what we try to make the award about. it is always an esteemed award that goes to people who understand what they are doing.

congratulations. [applause] >> thank you very much. tim and i want to thank the national press foundation for this honor. i want to also thank the mayor for providing us with transportation tonight. [laughter] in a beautiful black and navigator. it is really surprising that on such short notice, he was able to comply with our requirements for a gray interior. this is the second time i have won this award, and standing up here, i cannot help but think about how much change in

journalism and may be -- in the media world in those four years. for example, just four years ago, marcus broccoli was overseeing the decline of one of the most prestigious newspapers in america, and now, just four years later, workers broccoli is overseeing the decline of one of the most prestigious newspapers in the country. >> four years ago, mike allen was staying up all night so that he could e-mail inside scoop to his closest friends. i am sorry, friends sources. >> four years ago, the bureau chief of the wall street journal was jerry seib. >> four years ago, the newly elected chairman of the oversight committee was investigating allegedly improper e-mail's cent are

republican staffers -- sent by republican staffers. four years ago, the washington press corps was an insecure bunch to only cared about hobnobbing with the political elite. that was before emily miller got her press pass. >> for me personally, a lot has changed. the last time i was standing up here, i approached then bradlee. >> i did not write or approve of that jokes. despite all this dramatic upheaval, one thing has not changed. good old-fashioned tenacious reporting is alive and well in washington. everyone in this room helped to make that happen. >> i would like to thank my wife for her support.

it is said that behind every successful woman -- every successful man, there is a surprised mother-in-law. thanks for being there, patty. i also want to thank my parents. >> i would like to thank my parents, who are here tonight from connecticut and california. i parents are great. they have always tell me i could do anything i wanted, and tonight i realize that they might have actually meant it. >> we also would like to thank a few people at the wall street journal who helped make this happen. these two great leaders immediately saw the importance of our work, the value of national debate, and they

fearlessly steered it these award winning stories on to page a-3. [laughter] >> i would like to thank all my colleagues in the washington bureau for their support. without your guidance, counsel, and wisdom, i might not have been able to get a job at "the washington post." we want to dedicate this award to our friend and colleague. john is always in our hearts and by his example he inspires us every day to try to match his standards. >> to win this award, brodie and i investigated how members of congress travel overseas. what we found would shockey. on a taxpayer funded trip,

lawmakers were eating fancy meals and drinking fine wine, rubbing shoulders with influential leaders at exclusive events, and receiving all sorts of other gifts and a cash stipend available to him all -- available to them only because they held public office. >> to recognize for this award tonight, while eating a fancy meal and drinking fine wine is great, rubbing shoulders with influential leaders at an exclusive event, wearing fancy tuxedos paying -- paid for with our expense accounts, and walking away with free gifts and cash seems a fitting award for a job well done. [applause] thank you.

>> that is a hard act to follow. i am sure now that you know dana bash has won the dirksen award for broadcast. these reporters produced coverage of members of congress. there were inform the public of how the system works. dana is the one that has brought to our attention like no other reporter i know. it is not a new practice, but the way that you put its into words and into video and audio was astounding. i have watched it for decades, probably since i was 10, on how

these have taken place. you have done the best job ever of explaining how that happened so that the american people cannot understand it, not just those of us in washington. so dana bash, congratulations for earning the dierksen award tonight. [applause] we have a video to show before it day in and gets her big check. now we will watch the video. >> a refueling tanker, long overdue for retirement. this senator wants his replacement made in his home state, alabama, but richard shelby says the air force competition is a sham. so in protest, he did something drastic. he blocked most of president obama as nominees through an

array of federal agencies that has nothing to do with this issue. >> that is pretty extreme. why did you do that? >> i did it to get the attention of the administration. >> he made headlines and became a symbol of gridlock. but in his first tv interview on the subject, he makes no apologies. >> it sounds like what you are trying to do is put money, put jobs at in the state of alabama. >> ultimately i am a senator from alabama, but i wanted to make sure there is fairness. >> shelby eventually lifted his hold on all but three nominees for senior air force position. without these highly qualified professionals, we are not firing on all cylinders. >> the thing that nominees you have holds on are qualified? >> i do not have any idea.

>> it is part of life here in the senate. it is not in the official rules, but by tradition, any senator can put a hold of any presidential nominee for any reason, and both parties do it. he was nominated for the federal election committee. democratic senator held him up over a voting rights issue. >> which senator? >> senator obama. >> thank you very much. i am grateful to receive this prestigious award named for your grandfather. i also want to thank the national press foundation. i really do believe that congress is the best beet in town. the one place that we reporters can walk up to the principles that we cover and ask them questions directly. approached john mccain and not know whether you get that familiar smile or that familiar snarl.

trying to figure out just what he meant to say in that news conference. the gift means even more watching the people in the middle east and north apyrase their voices and sometimes lose their lives based on the basic freedoms that we frankly all take for granted. tonight is especially timely because it is the second time i am honored to receive this award. i am thinking about how much the business has changed since 2002 which was the last time i was standing here. i broke the news that the government had intercepted communications the day before 9/11 at or never translated, missed clues that the attacks were coming. i was the producer then and our national security reporter took the news to air. tv was premature only outlet for getting the news out. that was 8.5 years ago.

mark zuckerberg was just starting out at harvard then. there's no facebook and node twitter. obviously it is a lot easier to get information out now. for the most part, i think that is a positive thing for journalism. call me old-fashioned, i still believe there is a desire and need for reporting that takes more than 140 characters, especially in explaining the confounding workings of congress. [applause] i am delighted the national press conference recognize a story -- it is not a new concept, but it is nice to take the time it to see and hear a senator's confessing and explain why they do this. the same goes for another story we did about senators taking money for pet projects from a

bill that was supposed to go to fund the war. they were taking it for pet projects back home. it is hard to believe that a year later, leaders in both parties are promising no more earmarks. maybe there are taking a cue from the late, great senator everett dirksen. he is quoted as saying the only people who do not change their minds are in confidence in asylums they cannot, and those in cemeteries. i am incredibly lucky to work with a stellar team at cnn. i want to recognize lisa jensen it was an indefatigable force in putting stories together, and glass to work on another behind- the-scenes story with me and countless others, the dogged reporters i am privileged to work with in our capitol hill unit.

the camera crews to do this, who should always get applause. our fearless leader, whose commitment to journalism with context that objectivity is practically unparalleled. i also want to thank my cnn bosses who are here somewhere. and other colleagues who are here tonight, and my incredible parents, who are here. they met in chicago nearly 45 years ago and gave me the journalism gene. i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge some of the people here on the dais i am very lucky to know. al hunt and andrea mitchell, congratulations on your awards tonight. judy woodruff has always been a mentor to me, especially when

you are at cnn. when i was offered the job on air at cnn, she was one of the first people i call and ask for advice. she said i will be fine. i want to thank my husband, john king, who is a journalist i most admire and also keeps me grounded and reminds me of what is really important in life. he is the person is said to me, honey, put the blackberry down, it is time to stop working. thank you. [applause] >> as you can imagine, there are many cool things about being chairman of the national press foundation. the coolest one is that each chairman is given an opportunity to present an award to someone he or she regards as having played a significant role in the news gathering process.

i think all of us can as we move through our careers stop and say there was somebody along the way who made all the difference for us. for me that person was al hunt'. not just for me, but for lots of us in this room. first as my colleague at the wall street journal and then later at bloomberg news. he has tutored a whole cadre of journalists. he has demonstrated that it is essential to bring fairness, accuracy, balance, tavis and analytical insight into the courage of our nation's elected and appointed leaders. those are the standards he set and continues to set, and the ones he conveys to those of us who learned from him. he has been a pioneer in showing it is possible to move from being stained wretch to

television star and not lose your standards along the way. if you got confused in airport terminals from time to time, a small price to pay. or importantly, anyone who knows him knows that if you need a friend in a pinch, you turn to allen hunt. i am proud to award him the national press foundations chairman citation. [applause] >> thank you, is a real honor to be here tonight. in watching the academy awards sunday night, i saw my wife's reaction when christian bale

seem to forget his wife's name. so let me begin by saying thank you, judy, for being so supportive, understanding, patients, and letting me keep my maiden name. i cannot tell you what an honor it is to be with every other recipient here tonight. it all actually earned it. i just got it. it is a personal privilege to talk about the person who will follow me, andrea mitchell, who is our daughters got mother. every kid ought to have a jewish godmother. she is the hardest working and most versatile reporter i have ever known, and one of the kindest and most generous friends. we spent every christmas morning going on a quarter century with andrea and allen.

we have had wonderful fun. they have been dear friends who have shared the painful moments in our lives and the many joyous ones. you get honors like this when you are old. for meat, it always seems to be connected -- for me, it always seems to be connected to jerry seib. his talents and his collected expertise are amazing. nobody can do everything that jerry can do. quite frankly, there is, however, a time that he was eclipsed. when he and his wife covered egypt for the wall street journal, the jury was the back office. -- jerry was.

the first recipient half a century earlier was one of my mentors, james reston of the new york times. when i was a college junior, i was a stringer. scotty reston came down for three days of lectures at the community college. and i covered him. it was one of the most exciting moments of my life. i had an interview with him on november 21, 1963. he said to me, young man, you have asked me lots of questions. tell me, what are you going to do with your life? i said i am undecided between law school or journalism. that is easy, he replied.

as i was saying at lunch with the dean last week, in journalism, you only meet interesting people. some are good, some are bad, but they are all interesting. that is to make some news. he said if you do it well, it matters. there is a lot of anxiety in our business today. we have seen the diminution of great media enterprises. but amid this gloom, there are more than a few glimmers of light and hope. bloomberg news is one. we are only a little over 20 years old, but we are blessed with resources, journalistic integrity, commitment, and a soaring ambition. these days, here in washington and around the globe, issues are

really complex. consensus elusive, and shamchann the present. what more could a journalist asked for? if we do it well, as mr. reston said, it matters. whatever the short-term prevails, the marketplace and insatiable public thirst for reliable information and accountability is producing a new journalistic golden age. that is why it is exciting to go to work every day. in closing, i want to thank several people. first, my close friend, the late tim russert. i change jobs every 39 years. after matt winkler offered me a job at bloomberg in 2004, i thought about stretching that to 40 years. one november morning, tim

russert came over for breakfast. he listened to me, heard me talk about my reservations, and he said you are crazy. what do you mean, you are undecided what you are going to do? take, for god's sake. challenge yourself. do it, is fabulous. and i did it. thank you, tim. our bureau chief is here, and he knows more about washington than anybody i know. everyday he makes me look like i know what i am doing, and i appreciate that. raquel kristi is my assistant and understands what i mean, rather than what i say. norman was my boss in the 1980's and early 1990's. he got the benjamin bradlee

award in 1989 and then took a short respite for 12 or 13 years, and he joined bluebird in 2008. i remember thinking it is like being on the chicago bulls a decade ago -- he joined a bloomberg in 2008. we agree we are working as hard or may be harder than we did 25 years ago and we are a helluva lot older, but it is every bit as much fun. last but not least, my editor in chief, matt winkler. i have read that matt can be demanding, even difficult. i can just tell you my experience. when he hired me six years ago to run the washington bureau, his instructions were simple. he said make it the best. we are still a work in progress, but we have come a long way, and

i would not trade us, woman for a woman or man for man, for anyplace else. every step of the way, matt winkler has been encouraging and supportive. there is no one who does not bear the name of the company who has been more important to the extraordinary success and reach of bloomberg than matt winkler. i thank him for the opportunity of enabling me to feel young again. so it is a real honor to receive this award from jerry seib and his foundation that has done so much good work. i feel terrific about our business, about you all, and i feel terrific about tonight. thank you all so much. [applause] >> this is why journalism

matters. scottie would have treated eight response. probably not, actually. our next award is for excellence in broadcast journalism. the founder and publisher of broadcasting and cable magazine is a member of our board and a passionate defender of first amendment protection for broadcasters. the judges were unanimous in suggesting andrea mitchell and cnn as the winner. andrea is donating her award to the university of pennsylvania. here is a brief video about her career. >> it is fine. this job -- i loved it. >> andrea mitchell is one of the most indefatigable reporters i

have ever known. >> you have a connection to haiti. what does it mean to you? >> ander yet is as dedicated a reporter as i know. >> the government was so anxious for this experiment to succeed, that they were willing to overlook some things. >> when i think of the news, i think of her face. she is one of our constant. she is one of our north stars. >> the u.s. is on a worldwide alert. unless saddam hussein backs down, he will be hit and it soon. >> she had a great curiosity and was always looking for a new story. >> it was not easy for andrea or any other woman of her generation. andrea was their morning, noon, and night. she took whatever job was available to her.

>> food and drug officials predict that congress will intervene. >> she is a real pioneer. she is fearless, but her depth of knowledge is what comes through. >> nicaragua exports drugs to us. >> you're calling her husband terrible names. >> she is a model in many ways for not just young women across the country, but for aspiring journalist. it is hard work. no one does it with more elan or enthusiasm. >> any world leader who has encountered andrea will not soon forget the encounter. >> for the sake of argument, who else? [laughter] >> when people see andrea, i it was fear come into the eyes of a

political figure of some kind or the subject of one of her cross- examination >> no matter what someone has done -- can you explain that for us? >> i would not want to look up at the television and see andrea no way that i had to compete against her whether she was playing for another team. >> if you think the issue of this child will become a permanent obstacle between the countries? >> she is tenacious. that there is a battle, i will side with andrea mitchell because she is going to win. >> if you sat down with mitch mcconnell. you cut a deal with the republicans. >> she will be tough, but she will be fair. the people who she covers completely understand that. >> do you think that you and george bush have left america not only stronger militarily, but with a better reputation abroad? >> mr. president, you seem to be

having some difficulty with the pentagon. >> we all knew that andrea craved air time. she loved it. she liked to be on as much as anybody. on this particular day, she was complaining that she had only been on nightly news twice that week. the problem was, it was wednesday. if there had only been two broadcast that week. >> their parties were a source or she would meet somebody. there was a great dedication in all of that. >> i loved having entry mitchell on our team. she is a great friend. she takes care of all of us. she is part den mother, a orbital sister, part big sister, part mother in this family of ours. >> she has our radar on all the time. >> she does not have they quit button. she does not have been off switch.

she is the most remarkable, self propelled force in journalism and life i have ever seen. >> ladies and gentlemen, andrea mitchell. [applause] >> i am actually without words. to my colleagues, thank you for that tour of the hair styles. [laughter] to jerry, bob, and all my

colleagues -- to al and judy, nothing could be more meaningful. to be honored along with al and judy. a story some may know is there was a time in april of 1981 when i was basically banned from the scenes of nbc by the then president of nbc news. there were a lot of reasons for that, but basically i messed up on the today show. who knows what else happened. judy raised her hand and said, "send her over to us." i became be back up to the backup to john and judy.

they basically, quietly, mostly without letting me know yet, but for ways to rehabilitate my career. story by story, a finding today show or weekend stories that they could pitch to the kid who had a lot left to prove. in so many ways, judy and al have been part of our lives. al mentioned some of the most meaningful. i cannot tell you what it means in my heart to be with you tonight. tom in that video mentioned in the early years. here with the national press foundation and all of the great work you do i get all of the media platforms around the world, i thought it would be a useful reminder to talk about one of your antecedents, no

longer with any connections with the press foundation. but looking back, 40 years ago this very week according to the washington post the jerry rodi trio serenaded the national press club to the tune of "thank heavens for little girls appear "those little girls included francis from the philadelphia inquirer. she was among the first women, 24 of them, to become members of the old national press club. before 1971 the biggest breakthrough for women reporters in this town had come in 1956 when elizabeth carpenter forced the club to let women assigned

to a story to cover news maker luncheons at the press club from the balcony where they often could not hear the speakers whom they were covering. they were certainly not permitted to ask questions, but could look down on their male colleagues who were eating their lunch. at the time, i was a radio reporter in philadelphia covering a very controversial mayor. the advice that news makers are always interesting for good or ill certainly applied. i was dreaming up covering my first national political convention which i was able to do the next year in 1972 in miami. today, i am living the dream. through all of its many evolutions, this news organization has allowed me to work among the greats of our

profession for more than 32 years. none of this would have been possible without the nbc news president, brian williams, and tom brokaw, the executive vice president. they had the vision and the commitment and they had expanded nbc be on the network to other platforms, becoming a leader in cable and giving me the opportunity at msnbc to have a daily program and to work with so many colleagues. now to be able to work with our new colleagues and collaborators at comcast represented here by david cohen. here tonight, might tenacious,

unstinting executive producer and the heart and soul of our little team, michelle perry. here with us tonight, our bureau chief and nightly news producer. of course, are rooting for me every day in every possible way, the most patient man -- allen. through every adventure and every phone call -- i have a today show assignment, i will be home some time. thank you for this honor. it means more to meet then i can ever express. to our most loyal viewers -- and

trust me on this -- there are no new more loyal viewers than the mitchells. they notice everything. [laughter] for many, many years but for too few, my days would begin every day with that voice urging me on saying, "mitch, what do you know?" he is a former winner of this very award back in 2004. timmy, this one is for you. thank you. [applause]

>> in his weekly radio and internet address, president obama urges congress to agree on a budget that cuts government spending without sacrificing immediate investments in education. he gave his remarks at a high school in miami worries but to students and faculty members. a tennessee senator gives the republican address. >> i am talking to you from miami, florida, where i am visiting miami central high school. the school has turned itself around. i came here with the former governor of florida, jeb bush. we share the view that education

is an american issue. this is a moment when we all have to do with the students and teachers are doing here -- we have to step up our game. our top priority has to be creating new jobs and opportunities in a competitive world. this week we received very good news. we learned the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in nearly two years as our economy added another 222,000 private sector jobs last month. we have a lot more work to do for the millions of americans who do not have the right jobs or the work they need to live out the american dream. there is something about the determination and ingenuity of our people and our businesses. we are helping fuel the economic growth with tax cuts that democrats and republicans came together to pass in december. tax cuts that are already making american policy paychecks

bigger and allowing businesses to write all their investments, freeing up more money for job creation. just as both parties cooperated on tax relief that is fueling job growth, we need to come together to write a budget that cuts spending without slowing our economic momentum. we need a government that lives within its means without sacrificing job-creating investments in education, innovation, and infrastructure. it includes a five-year spending freeze that will reduce our deficit by $1 trillion and over the next decade. because i propose will bring annual domestic spending to its lowest share of the economy under any president in more than 50 years. for the last few weeks, members of congress have been debating their own proposal. i am please democrats and republicans came together a few days ago and passed a plan to cut spending to keep the government running for two more weeks. but we cannot do business two weeks at a time.

it is not responsible. we have to keep the momentum going. we need to come together, democrats and republicans, around a long-term budget with sacrifices that do not sacrifice the job-creating investments in our future. mike administration has put forward specific cuts that may professional republicans halfway. we will only finish the job together by sitting at the same table, working out our differences, and finding common ground. vice president biden and the rest of my administration will meet with the members of congress going forward. getting our fiscal house in order cannot be something we used as cover to do away with the things we do politically. it cannot be about how much we cut. it has to be about how we cut and how we invest. we ought to be smart. if we cut back on the kids in that year and their education, we would be risking the future of an entire generation of

americans. there is nothing responsible about that. we have to put america back on the fiscally unsustainable course and make sure that when it comes to the economy of our 21st century, our children and our country are better prepared than anyone else in the world to take it on. our future depends on it. it is not a democratic or republican challenge -- it is an american challenge. i am, and that it is one we will meet. crosses for listing. >> hello. i am in black. i am a small-business owner and i taught at a local community college. i am also a mother of three and a grandmother of six. just two months ago today, i had the honor of being sworn in to serve the people of tennessee's 6 congressional district as part of the new republican freshman class in the house of representatives. my colleagues and i know that we were not sent to washington to

set on our hands are to find new ways to avoid work. we were set by our constituents to help but an anti-washington policies that are making it harder to create jobs and threatening our nation's future. job creation has to be the number-one priority for both parties. the policies of the past have not worked. despite some signs of life in our economy, the unemployment rate is still far above the level that was promised when the stimulus bill was signed into law. we need a new approach, a path to prosperity begins government out of the way by cutting unnecessary spending and removing barriers to job growth. we need to unleash our nation by three economy instead of burying it under a mountain of regulation, taxation, and debt. since the moment we were sworn into office, this has been our

focus. whenever i tore my district and i ask small business people what i can do to help, they tell me to get government out of the way. they will create the jobs on their own. this is why our new majority is taking a complete inventory on washington's rules and regulations, looking to root l.p. ones that make it harder to create jobs. we have to find things that it could have been discovered in washington had been doing their work in an open and transparent way. there is no better example of this than the 1099 paperwork in obama care. the house passed a bill this week to repeal it. soon we are going to vote to cut wasteful mandatory spending programs, not just in obama care, but also in the dots frank financial regulations bill that is drying up -- dodd-frank

regulations bill. it is just not be overreaching that has to stop. it is the overspending, which many economists agree is a barrier to job creation. it has now been just two weeks since the house passed a bill that makes much needed spending cuts and keeps the government running through the end of the fiscal year. unfortunately the democrats to run the senate have not allowed a vote on this bill or any other bill that would cut spending and keep the government running long term. you may have heard president obama say that we need to make sure we are living within our means. he is right about that. unfortunately his budget does not match his words. it continues out of control spending, it adds to our porting dollar trillion debt, -- $14

trillion debt. maintaining the status quo in refusing to offer a credible plan to cut spending is inexcusable. again, we were not sent here to sit on our hands. the american people want us to keep the government running by cutting its costs. republicans spearheaded the passage of a short-term measure that cuts spending by $4 billion. that is $4 billion of your money that would otherwise have gone and other wastefuls programs. it is a start, but it does not nearly enough. we a provided another two weeks for our democratic colleagues to pass hr1. doing nothing is not an option. after two years, we know the

government does not create private sector jobs. it is small businesses and the people behind them that do. that is why our majority is focused on getting government out of the way and charting a new path to prosperity. it is what our constituents sent us here to do. it is what we need to do for the future of our children and our country. thank you for listening. >> next, a portrait unveiling for senate majority leader bill frist. after that, president obama presents the arts and humanities awards. on news makers, kentucky congressman harold rogers, chairman of the appropriations committee, talked about the debate on federal spending and budget negotiations. newsmakers, sunday at 10:00 a.m. at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.

american history professor pauline maier has written several books on the american revolution. her latest was published last year. join our conversation sunday at noon eastern on c-span2. what's previous programs at booktv.org where you can find the schedule. >> on wednesday, a painting of former senate majority leader bill frist was unveiled. we will hear remarks from senate majority leader harry reid, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, and former president george w. bush. this is 40 minutes.

>> we are here for a very special occasion. on the top of the washington monument is an aluminum, beautiful shaped [unintelligible] and there are two words printed on it. they are in latin. they are actually seven letters. "praise be to god." is it not marvelous that we are here in this historic chamber this afternoon and 555 feet

above us is this declaration of praising god for all that we have and all that we are? let us pray together. almighty god, we thank you that we can come together to praise you. we are so thankful for our history as a nation -- one nation under god -- and we are reminded again that to praise you is the antidote to pride. admiration for your wisdom is the key to magnus it -- magnificent a top -- magnificent accomplishments. gratitude for your business is the real secret to greatness. this afternoon we honor senator william harrison frist, a cherished friend, benchmark

physician, surgeon, a distinguished senator and former majority leader. we salute this man for all seasons, who is motivated by the best all reasons, to glorify you. we are stunned again by the multitude of his accomplishments in medicine and government and in addition to all he has done here, we thank you that you have a simplified your grace and mercy in those many trips to africa to bring his surgical and healing skills to the most remote areas and do the most destitute and neglected people. thank you for his leadership and efforts to relieve suffering in haiti and in other distressed places in the world.

thank you for his very generous philanthropy. so many of us gathered here together this afternoon have our own personal stories of bill's attentive, caring for and shipped to our personal needs, but no one here could forget that afternoon and the shooting of two capital guards when dr. frist picked up his bag and ran to help. on 9/11 when he was a source of comfort and advice and insight, the anthrax attack, the countless, demanding challenges of senate leadership -- lord, we note that of all your blessings to the senator, he would be the first to say that the greatest art his beloved wife, karen, and his three sons, harrison, jonathan, and brian.

we thank you for is leadership here in the capital, encouraging friendship among the senate spouses. now as the senator's portrait is unveiled and hangs year in the capital, may it be an information of his continued influence in our time and the impact of his life on american history. together we say with them, "praise be to god." amen. >> it is a pleasure to be here with president bush, senator frist, and all of you. i have been in public service

for a long time. i have worked with a lot of public servants. i am glad to say publicly what i have told me privately -- i have never served with someone who cared more than someone who so clearly cared more for other people than bill frist. he spent his entire life making other's lives better. he served his community in surgery. when he realized he could pursue the same passion on a larger scale, he helped so many more. he chose to represent his stake in the united states senate and his state twice chose him. he chose to represent his peers in the senate leadership and his peers emphatically chose him. they elected him to that role after he had served fewer years in congress than anyone ever elected to the senate. he may have retired from the

senate, but you never retire from service. 12 title changes in his career. physician, a politician, a businessman, father -- bill frist has never forgotten the importance of the individual in the work he has done. he has never though he was trained at our country's most prestigious schools, learn from its finest doctors, senator frist has not confined his skills to the comforts of world-class hospitals. he has bravely performed surgery on some of the world's most dangerous and desperate places. senator frist has saved lives, hurt by human. hands and places like sudan, and as devastated by disasters like

last year's earthquake in haiti. his commitment to service is without limit or peer. i know that he appreciates the title of humanitarian more than the one for which we honor him today with this portrait. because he does, we appreciate him. above my desk down the hall, i keep a portrait of another great man from tennessee, andrew jackson. jackson once said, "one man with courage makes it a majority." my friend bill frist is a man with courage to make a fine majority leader. he held the same court seat in the u.s. senate that jackson held two centuries earlier, and now both of their portraits will hang in this great building called the united states capitol. bill frist helped choose the

artists for commissions like what we're here to see today. as we will soon see when we on fail this work of art, he has wonderfully captured senator frist for posterity. so, doctor, senator, mr. leader, bill, congratulations to you and karen and the boys, harrison, jonathan, and brian. before we hear from senator frist, please join me in welcoming president. senator frist and i had the honor of serving with him as a republican and democratic leaders in the senate. it is my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce to you the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush. [applause]

>> thank you all. please be seated. thank you all. please be seated. it takes a really good friend to get beat come back to washington. [laughter] i am thrilled to be here. laura sends her love. to karen and bill, bill was wise enough to marry a texan. i am proud to be here with senator reid and senator mcconnell. they represent the. -- they represent the present. i represent the past. i welcome those who have not served in the past, mr. secretary and others. i assure you, bill, we are delighted to be here to watch you hang. [laughter]

well, not exactly. i appreciate bill frist a lot. i appreciate the fact that he loves and respects his wife. and i love the fact that when i was with the first he always talked about his sons. sometimes you probably tested his patients, but you were never able to break his love. i really admire the fact that he served during tough times. but he led the senate in a gentlemanly way. i appreciated the tone that he set. he also could've done a lot of things in his life. it is kind of inconvenient sometimes to think about public service, but he was willing to be inconvenienced. i loved serving with him. he is a man of accomplishment,

bill, and i think when people look back at your record, bill, there will say you did a lot of good stuff for america. i really appreciated the fact that bill frist lived by the call, "to whom much is given, much is required." senator frist goes to africa to help save lives. he went home to campaign, schmooze with the folks of tennessee, instead he is saving lives on the continent of africa. he has a god-given talents that he was willing to use on behalf of those who suffered. i said, you mean it senator bill frist? that is exactly what i mean, bill frist, during his senate recess, takes time out of his life to save lives. i thought that was an awesome that example -- and also example

of what it is to be a public servant. i am delighted to introduce the man -- let's hope that the portrait looks like him, too. [laughter] it would be rough if they unveil it and it was like, who is that? you know? [laughter] the man whose portrait we are about to see, a good friend, a great american, bill frist. [applause] >> thank you. thank you.

thank you. norman was smart. peering over the open chest cavity with an old disease, flabby heart thrown aside, and guiding my novice hands at the time, it as we put and a healthy, good, of robert young heart he would say, "remember, whatever you are doing at a moment's time, you never own it. you were always just renting." i did not know exactly what he meant it.

a fine cardiac surgeon teaching me the transplant, but you were always just renting. thank you, mr. president, for your remarks, for being here today. to be with primarily the first family, a big family, and that obviously many of your admirers and supporters and friends over the years. your dad and mother, my parents, the relationship between the first lady, laura, and karen, my siblings, your siblings, i feel a certain interlocking kinship with and our families. -- within our families. and maybe, mr. president, there bush-frist.orge burs

a little scary. if you had not run for reelection and harrison had not ran for reelection and that meant a then on node 2 west houston girl, ashley half, on that reelection campaign and five years later on the top of the dome of this capital got engaged, recently married, we simply would not be here is a family. it is kind of threatening, george bush-frist. ashley, speeded up, dolly. [laughter] mr. president, we admire your presidential grace, and i had the opportunity to see it on the ground. it is funny, we were over there smiling, having a good time, but it was kind of sad. we are in there, they are out there. not you. [laughter] but we have life after the

senate, it is fun. it has a great pace to it. time,t that point in president bush and president clinton walked together. today's letter, i was on the ground, and i had the opportunity to spend time with john frist, being on the ground, saying the response to one of the three worst earthquakes in history. and him and president clinton getting together and raising a huge amount of money, creating hope for hundreds and thousands of people. you really demonstrated life outside of washington gives all sorts of opportunities to participate and look people up in some ways. i applaud your work in haiti. to my colleagues, harry reid and mitch mcconnell, the leadership era, this portrait is fun and

nice, and i am honored, but it represents an era. and there are no two senators past or present who did not do more to shape that era and harry reid and mitch mcconnell. to harry reid, our leader, are boxer, our fighter out there, i enjoyed working with you. although our opinions naturally the verge -- diverge, you were always forthright in your convictions. and we all admire that. mr. mcconnell, 70 days -- so many days people would come in and mitch mcconnell and i would be behind that door. and the trust, the sharing, the real intimacy of human relationships, all in the interest of the country, is

sometimes tough and agonizing playing out under the real leadership of mitch mcconnell. to all my other senate colleagues, both present and past who are here today, i hope opportunities like this represent a time and a moment of repose, but also a time of reflection. you're dedicated work, and you realize that more after you leave that when you are here, provides that real polls, that continuing pulse of the democracy. you must take for granted what you are here because you are filling the responsibilities, but once you leave, you realize that pulse every day, continuous. sometimes faster, sometimes slower, provided by you. every day.uvaogilvie,

and those of you from ash fell and tennessee, think. but the senate would not open, we would not do the nation's business and to the chaplain of the senate gave that guiding message. lloyd, as you had that in vacation a few moments ago and you cannotident and i, help but realize that once you leave the senate, those relationships never end. and i am reminded of formal service, but then after formal service it continues to happen, but senators, staff. it continues to happen. and i am reminded, about two years after i left this and that -- after i left the senate,

anytime and laboriously yellowish or lunch sun rising over an ocean, karen and i have our feet in those waves. lloyd was out there baptizing a member of my family. that makes you realize that senate relationships are organic and they continue to live forever. and to those closest to me, karen and brian and jonathan and harrison, so many of you who did not come out from tennessee in 1993, the don quixote-like journey because i was transplanting hearts. they were like, have you lost your mind, the u.s. senate? and the answer was, well, maybe

karen had thought we were initially. the boys really did not know. but once we made that decision, once we decided to come to the u.s. senate, karen never looked back. and never wavered in terms of support and the sacrifices that all the senators and their spouses who are here know that you have to make. i thank you for that. but harrison and jonathan and brian, 1993, you don't know what to expect. it is tough. i came here with little boys and they left as grown men. i guess that is the greatest gift, that kids can give their parents, to karen and me, the fact that they grew through that adolescent time -- lots of ups, a few downs, but through that grew into outstanding young men who they themselves are committed to lives of service,

the greatest gift that children to give their parents. my four older siblings are here. very rare we are all together. we have lived all over the country, but we all live within about 2 miles of each other. donnie, mary, i am the youngest of five children, the baby of the family. as i address body and mary and tiny, i think we all think of mother and dad, two unbelievable parents. they really were humble. had the basic tennessee values that they did their best to pass on, and you know they are looking down and smiling. it is what we dropped about to have the five of them together healthy and living out their dreams like this for us. mother mac is here, karen's mom, the matriarch of the family, the

grandmother out of texas. thank you for bringing the thomas family with you today. at the historic chamber, many of you have not been in this chamber. 1810-1859, but this is where all the great debates took place. they don't occur too much anymore, do they? they all took place in this historic chamber. as i mentioned, the republican leader office is right on the other side of those doors. you hear hundreds of people coming in every day, because it is the door, the hallway, and then it is the desk. as you are working through the day, as mitch banos, you hear all day long hundreds of people coming in, paying their respects to this room. as the seat of democracy, the

upper level of our congress that represents freedom around the world. and that reminds me of what kind of makes this place work, and that is the staff. it is the team of people who give of their time very quietly, silently, tirelessly to serve not just the leader but to serve their country. the same tradition that is represented by this room here today. the staff are the bedrock of this institution. and to each of them in this room, and listening elsewhere, you play a unique role in history. friends who are here who came up, thank you for your sacrifices and contributions and support. they're what got us here. we have been blessed to know you. shane, why don't you stand up? actually, have your family stand up as well. karen and i have looked forward

to this year for many, many months. shane, o keep,. h, you don't have to keep standing. michael shane knows our entire family personally, each and everyone. about seven, eight years ago, i had it shane stand again as week unveiled the vanderberg apart. -- the vanderberg portrait. he is one of the great portrait artists of our time. he loves the institution of the united states senate. he passionately loves american history. he is a warm and caring individual. i have had the upper to be to what is being a great father and spouse. he is a man whose work even all judge.

i imagine i am a little thinner, a little younger. we will see if he pulled it off. [laughter] thank you for being here today. i will speed up, mr. president, i know. [laughter] i am just feeling that, "let's go, get it moving." it is nice to go back to asheville. messagehave any sort of today, but one of the things you hope to do, even if you are just renting space that we as senators and members of the house, you leave something here, a hint of something that makes it a little different or shapes it in some way, maybe makes it better. what i hope that karen and i have done is left the set with

-- left the senate with a return of the concept of the senator -- of the citizen legislator. of somebody who comes to the senate from a regular job. heart transplants are not a regular job, but they're not a political job. who come here for a time with no intention of making a career out of politics. but what just wanting time, whatever you are doing. look at it that way. and then voluntarily leaving and entering hopefully another more productive phase of your life. i think we moved too far away from the non career politician. all sorts of reasons. what you probably to not know, from 1810-1859, when this was used as the senate, just as an example of physicians, of that

50 years, there were 17 doctors elected to the united states senate over that 50 years. it would come for a time and leave and go back home and practice. over the 50 years that i was elected to the united states senate, 1950-2000, there was one. and that was me. it does not tell an exact story, but i think it shows that we need to go out and the people with real life experiences, encourage them to run. i hope that our service says that he could do it, maybe not perfectly, but you can do it. you could go back home, the family could stay intact -- financially it hurts a little bit -- but the family stays intact and then go back and lead a productive life.

voluntarily coming and voluntarily leaving. because one individual who is not here with us today who cannot travel that i talk to, one who has had the distinct privilege of representing the great state of tennessee, that great volunteer state -- and thank all of you who have and do represent tennessee, i have the privilege of serving in that office as u.s. senate, and that of course is howard baker. it was he when we were first deciding whether or not that we would debate henry clay, the john c. calhoun. it was rotational at the time. they would come here, run, and come back for a time. in fact, henry clay served as a

senator on four different occasions, rotating through? howard baker is the one of those who take to lead the u.s. senate. senator baker, we love you and thank you for that very early encouragement, to take a doctor, yes, treating patients one on one every day, to run for the u.s. senate. having never run from public office or serve from public office. it is or not for that simple inspiration, that encouragement of somebody who had been at this podium and in this chamber, we simply would not be here today. it thank you for sharing this special day. this represents the respect and brightest and mystique of the institutions in all of the

world, the united states senate. god bless you all, and thank you. [applause] >> lloyd, it is wonderful to see you again. mr. president, we welcome you back to town. my friend and colleague harry reid, and are on a wreath today, bill frist. -- and our honoree today, bill frist.

fort campbell covers the border of tennessee and kentucky. the post office is in tennessee, so weak claim it. -- so we claim it. but years ago there was a young soldier watching a live fire exercises and a soldier discharged his weapon and shot the division commander right in the chest. it was pretty clear pretty early that he was in trouble. got him on a helicopter, flew him down to nashville, where a young surgeon, bill frist, saved the life of general david petraeus. and so the influence and the good work of bill frist is far and wide. and it is fitting that we are here today to honor this good

man. i want to welcome, as others have, the members of the frist family. it is indeed large. the lot has been said about this good man. i like to add just a brief word of my own. when you come across a man like bill frist, you cannot help but wonder, where does it all come from? nobody doubts that it takes a lot of natural talent to become a tough transplant surgeon. no one doubts that it takes a lot of hard work to switch careers in the middle of one's life. and then, in your new career, flourish and rise to the topped as quickly as bill did. bill's accomplishments are so singularly impressive, you

suspect there is a little more to it than that. i think that bill provides an answer himself in the book that he wrote. he recalls that as a child growing up in asheville, he grew accustomed to the sound of his father's car pulling out of the driveway in the middle of the night to make a house call. how he got used to being pulled aside by strangers thanking him for something that his dad had done for them. and he recalled that when it came time to say his prayers at night, he did not want to kneel, and he asked his father if it could say his prayers in the bed instead. his father would respond, "bill, the lord does not answer a lazy man's prayers." he writes about the generosity of his mother, the goodness of his wife, the daring of his brother, and his grandfather whose singular act of heroism

continues to inspire the family to serve today. it is clear that bill frist has had the benefit of a good example. examples that all of us in turn have benefited from as well. through our association with him. like his father, he has a combined public service with a doctor's concern for people. he has shown all of us here and many others what it means to serve. and that is a legacy that any man would be proud of. and i have been asked to invite karen, harrison, ashley, jonathan, and brian to come to the easel for the unveiling, and all the rest of you are invited to the mansfield room shortly after now for the reception.

>> i'm nervous. [laughter] [applause] . .

>> thanks a lot. we'll be with you in one second. over here. thank you all so much. ok. who's next?

>> next, a discussion on women's progress in america. after that president obama presents the white house arts and humanities awards. then the national annual press foundations awards dinner.

this weekend on american history tv on c-span 3, the 150th anniversary of abraham lincoln's first inaugural address and oath of office re-enacted by sam waterston with remarks by harold hoelzer. and we'll go to f street and visit the home of woodrow and edith wilson. and author christopher brithe talks about eisenhower, cold war and buildup of our nuclear arsenal. american history tv on c-span3. get the complete history online at c-span.org/history or press the c-span alert button violent our schedules e-mailed to you. >> president obama's fy-12 budget for the department allows us to continue to meet these evolving threats and challenges by prioritizing our essential operational requirements. >> as cabinet secretaries meet with members of congress over their department's budget

requests for next year, watch the hearings online at the c-span video library. search, watch, clip and share. it's washington your way. >> a us in white house report says women in america are earning 75 cents for every dollar earned by men. a report also said women are on pace to make up 50% of college undergrads by the year 2019. there's no new research in this study but it does bring data together from across the federal government. administration officials and women activists talk about the report at a forum hosted by the center for american progress. this is an hour and 20 minutes. >> good afternoon. my name is heather boucher. i'm senior economist at the center for american progress and it is my honor and privilege to introduce and welcome you all to this event this afternoon. i have to say as an economist, this is commiped of event. i'm so excited about this report

about the conversation we're going to have today. and we're so honored to be co-hosting with the white house council on women and girls. i hope all of you enjoy it as much as i intend to. we at the center for american progress and i'm sure many of you in the audience greatly appreciate the support this administration has given to advancing the cause of women and girls not only in the united states but around the world. that's what we're talking about today. the cause of women and girls has been a priority from day one when the president, one of the first bills he signed the lilly ledbetter fair pay act. in last year's budget and this year's budget, the administration has tried to put its money where its mouth is and try to invest in programs that affect working families including funds for stites start up pay family medical leave program and impended care tax credit. where those play out in terms of

we're appreciative of the administration's hard work on those efforts. today we're not hearing so much talk about policy but we're here to talk about a new report which i already dog eared with a lot of colored sticky. called women in america, indicators of social well being. this report documents the enormous progress and, of course, where there's ample room for improvement for women and their families. i want to take a moment before we get into the nuts and bolts of the report to talk for a second about how the ability of this report to be wring is because of the important work that all of the statistical agencies of the u.s. government do that allows those of us like myself, economist, researchers, all of us who play with data all the time tell us what's going on in our country, how it's affecting women in our families. without access to the data, we would not be able to tell you much about the world when we were working on the shriver

report a couple of years ago, we made so much use of government data. through that we were able to document that women were half of all u.s. workers on u.s. payrolls and increasingly becoming breadwinners for their families. without the work done year after jeer in the statistical agencies to tell us, we wouldn't know. that is why this report is so exciting because what it's done is pull together data from a whole variety of agencies to tell us a story about what is happening to women in america. now i want to introduce the first presenter and then go on to painl where we're going to accept some of the fundings and i do not have the opportunity to introduce the whole panel and note it was a distinguished group so we will hear more about that in a minute. first the author, first of all, it is just plaveragee to

introduce becky blank. she's one of my favorite economists, role model for us in the field. right now she's a long title -- accounting deputy secretary and undersecretary for economic affairs at the department of commerce which she overseas the 12 bureaus and functions as chief operating officer and head of the economics and statistics administration where she oversees the census bureau and bureau of economic analysis. i know that i sleep together at night knowing becky is in charge staft 'tis cal agency. thank you and we appreciate your service for all of us. prior to joining the administration, she was dean of the gerald f. ford public policy school of michigan. this is, of course serksd stint here in washington or at least may have had read about this morning where she was on prn's council of economic advisers and we're very pleased to her joining us today.

next the general counsel and senior policy adviser in the office of management and budget. she's been referred to as a legal superstar by "the new york times," which is very impressive. she has been actively involved and previously served on the national women's law center, and national center for research on women. thank you. we're so excited to hear about the report. finally, it is also my honor toint deuce tina chen, executive director of the white house counsel on women and girls and chief of staff to the first lady. over the past couple years, i have gotten to know tina a little bit at various meetings and she's often the one we all yell out for more things that we want. i love the fact she also takes

it with smile and says yes, that's great. so it's just been a delight to know you over the past few years. she's one of the most visible faces at the white house and she works very closely with all federal agencies tone sure increased focus on government programs serving the needs of women and families. prior to a role at the white house, tina spent 25 years at a lawyer in chicago with the same firm as prita, which i get to say the name again, standard, art, pfleger and slcum and a variety of corporate clients. tina was also an active support every of women's rights and played sathe role to push illinois to ratify the equal rights amendment and wrote a log spanning -- well, we will note, a illinois definition of rape that includes sexual abuse. help me give a warm welcome to our presenters this afternoon. thank you.

>> thank you. it is great to be here today. i appreciate coming out to hear a little bit about this report. the reports we're talking about, women in america and social and economical well being provides a statistical portrait of how women are faring in the united states today and how their lives have changed over the last several decades. the report itself focuses on five key areas and goes through areas one by one with a number of kai areas in each area -- families in income, education, employment, health and then crime and violation. in each area the report highlights some of the most critical information on outcomes among women compared to men. as hedge nortes, this comes together because it's all data from the federal statistical agencies by bringing this data together, you can go and find pieces of the data on one website and pieces on another website.

our purpose is to be a comprehensive source of information on will's lives today. in fact we believe this is most sensible report issued since 1962 whether the commission on the status 0 of women, established by president kennedy and coshared by eleanor roosevelt, had a report on the conditions facing women. some of you know there's quite a bit of press on this report. i'm really pleased it's one of the few cases i veen where there's actually two co-chairs to this early report that keeps getting mentioned and the man is just never mentioned. richard lester, famous economist, for those of you who know him. this reflects on the department of o.m.b., department of commerce and five of six federal statistical agencies. i want to thank valerie jarrett and tina them, council on and co-chairs and others who make the results of this report known. prieta and her office at o.m.b.

worked with a number of folks to conceptualize what this report should contain and the folks in my office really put the entire report together. they had a lot of help. staff from six to eight agencies helped identify the data and documents the trends. i want everyone who worked on the report, wave your hands, stand up. i would like to give you a round of applause. identify yourselves. thank you all. so i want to highlight just aa few pages from the report and what i would like to do is whet your appetite through report in a lot more detail. this is amazing. let's turn to the section on families. we have a number of drafts here. what i'm showing you is age of mothers by first birth.

you can see how age of first birth is changing in different age groups over time. and it's important to know the age of mothers has gone up quite steadily over the 40-year time period. share of women in their 30 ds giving birth the first time risen from 4% in 1970 to 22% in 2007. at the same time the scher share of births steadily declined. this is good if you think women need more education now than ever before. the share of mothers whose first birth is over 40 is actually noticeable. you couldn't see it in the earlier years. so the series of pitchers and charts and pages that look at the most traditional lives of women around marriage and children, together with this page, tell the story of how the lives changed incredibly over 0

the last 30 to 40 decades. women delay birth. they delay marriage. the number of children that they have as a result is less than it used to be. so we have all of these trends interacting to the education employment trends that are discussed later in the report. women increased education spening more years in school and increase labor market worker, two of the reasons why age of first birth is delayed. just get a sense of how traditionalized women changed over time. if we move to the education section, here's an area where women are actually rapidly surpassing men. as this figure shows, it show u.s. the percentage of women and men ages 25 to 34 who have earned a college degree and women are the yellow line, men are the blue line. women in this age group, younger women more likely than men to obtain college degree and you see that very steep upward slope in the likelihood of women

finishing college where men quite honestly have been virtually flat since the mid-1970's. those trends are similar whether you look at black women, hispanic women, american indian women. in all cases you see very strong increases in education that are not matched by cases of all men and men are more likely to get college degrees than men. on the one hand it's good to see education increasing. jobs of the future need more educated workers. on the other hand the male/female divergence and particularly looking aat men, future earning prospects for less educated men and implications of this trend for marriage behavior in the future. these improvements in education have not led to closing of the age gap. in part this is because women focus educational training in area that's tend to pay less. lack of women in the so-called stem areas, science, technology,

engineering and mathematics is one concern. since they pay for and it is provided for america to stay at the forefront of education. and it's why america ab tracts more students or particularly wix in stem-related field. we can turn next and talk about earnings but i suspect what i know about this crowd and i recognize a good number of you you're pretty familiar with the fact there is a wage gender gap out there and that women make less than men. rather than focusing on the earnings issue i will encourage you to look at that and many of the news reports focused on earnings i will turn next to help. -- health. this is one of the many charts in health that looks in chronic health conditions. 'don't typically do health-related work but as you know a lot of this is about how long people live and big health issues like heart disease and cancer. what this report shows to a

whole series of charts is one of the disproportionate gender gaps is all about chronic health issues. 1 yes, women live longer than men that.s0 gap hasn't narrowed recently in recent years but what distinguishes women from men are variety of chronic problems. women have more more billty issues, as this chart shows you you they're more likely to experience arthritis, asthma, chronic bronchitis. they're more likely to survive cancer. these issues tie in with other issues we discuss on further pages. women are more likely to be obese and engage in less physical exercise. they are more likely to experience depression. while women live longer, they face greater chall emplings on these medical issues and quite strikingly if you care about the health insurance agenda, managing these sorts of chronic health problems really requires regular and good economic care. i'm not going to talk about any of the data in the violent crime section.

this is on time use, comparison of how men and women spend their time. this shows a variety of selected activities and let be clear about who's on this graph. looking at weekdays, monday through friday, no saturdays or sundays and looking at married men and women who both work. we try to take a pretty comparable group of people and say how different a very comparable group of people and how they spend time. there are gender differences. men spend more time in market work and no such women spend more time caring for other family members. men spend more time at leisure and sports and women actually have a little bit more sleeping time but women spend more time in own activities. 9 next page after this looks at volunteer work. it turns out women spend more time volunteering at a wide variety of organizations.

on the weekdays it matters men and women if you add market work and nonmarket work spend about the same amount of time working. if you add the weekend, that isn't trufmentely let you know who's on top on the weekend spending more time on nonmarket work and caring for the household. overall this report is designed to do two things -- first pries a portrait of women's lives and how those lives are changing, giving you the most updated information in america. i think the whole report is a series of good news and bad news illuminating areas where people made substantial progress over time but illuminating area where's women face challenges and policymakers and advocates might focus their efforts. i hope you find this report as interesting to read as we found to put together. i know simply reading the facts about what's happening in people's lives is not a

substitute for action but faced by women of all ages and background but facts deeply important to paint a picture, of how lives of american men and women are changing over time and pointing to actions and policies that might be useful. better understanding women's economic and social well being will help us all understand awe need to do in the years ahead to make the future look better than it does today. thank you. >> for the first time o.m.b., department of commerce and statistical agencies work together to put all of the vast resources of the federal government, data resources, on to one site as they relate to women. i should start by saying this, o.m.b. has among our divorces kathy wallman, who i want to

recognize the chief statistician of the federal government. she worked with the agencies to come together and conceive of this report. let me just --ly direct you to the website. it is found on women and girls page and you will find the data on women link, which is right here, will take you to the report and underlying data. this outlines the report and five areas in it. if you click on any one area, it will take you to a description of some of the reports summary or more importantly i think and for purposes of the website, additional -- substantial additional information so it directs you to the actual agency, federal statistical page that collects the data about women noor statistical agency. under each there's substantial

additional resources. so, for example, this is the demographic page. if you start going to the drop-down things, you will see noigs what's in the data report, you have population beige and size, a lot of indicators. these come from a number of statistical agency without respect to each of the areas. the demographic information is department of commess but there's labor sta 'tis 'tis ticks, age of information relating to the age of first marriage, children. on the demographic side i want to highlight one point and i want to you go through this website yourself. i think you will see a lot of information there. but i want to highlight one thing that's not in the report among many on the website, family status and household relationships. if you click on the first link, cohabitation link, it takes you to the data agency's page. this is the first time all of this data on women across the federal government has been assembled on one site. it will take you directly to

this other site. that was working main ago that.s0 study talks about cohabitation. the 2002 report is currently being updated but that suggests more men and women cohabited before get married. 23% of women and 18% of men married without cohabiting. interesting facts like you you will find interexperienced throughout the report. all right. i don't know how to get out of this now. this is the back. sorry. all right. can someone -- can we get out of this

if you go up, each of the five areas of the report have a different statistical compendium. as far as the education report, again, you see the links to the data agencies, especially nces, national center on education statistics or national science foundation which had a lot of the data on the stem-related issues. they have a few reports that are related to women and really, really extensive listings of additional data that's available. one thing i want to point out on the education plate is on the financial assistance point, women, it turns out, whether

pursuing undergraduate degrees they're more than likely to receive financial siftance as they're pursuing those degrees. but in the science stem areas, the reverse is true. if you flick on the charts, that information becomes apparent. on the employment-related charts, the department of labor has for decades and nearly a century, more than saintry, collected really extensive data and ott labor market and jernter participation in the labor market. i'm just giving you a flavor of the vast number of links available. butly not go through this one in particular. i think the same thing on health. principal source is c.d.c. and the national center for health statistic within c.d.c. so here we have a lot on life expectancy, mortality, fertility and mortality i think under the

fertility and nay tallty page you will see a lot of information about birth rates, breastfeeding, average age of mothers giving births, health conditions. i encourage you sfoned time going through this. there are really interesting statistics here on mental health. crime and violence, extensive set of indicators, drop-down from here. most from the bureau of justice statistics. a loff of information about victimization. the cost of violence against women. you will see the use of health services, by use of violence and sexual assault. a lot of information from various sources, both from the health side as well as justice side on both kind of statistics. in any event the purpose of the broad data report, not just the report but underlying website is to further president obama's commitment to evidence-based policy making. right when the council on women and girls was formed at the beginning of the administration,

o.m.b. with cath yill wallman and function within statistics began working with c.w.g. snord to compile the vast data resources of the federal government as they relate to women in order to provide useful information to federal officials in all agencies and to provide information from o.m.b. in terms of prioritizing, budgetary and poll is making resources and evaluating how well existing approaches are working. the website is a work in progress and we encourage you to give us input as we make it better. the idea is we want to have one central compenden that makes it easy and accessible for policy and researchers to work with government, partner with us and help us identify the policies that can impact the lives of women. the data initiative is part of that broader goal. over the course of preparing the report and putting the data together on the website, we realize that there was some gaps -- overwhelmingly the feeling i came away from as a nonstatus

igs is the overwhelming federal statistical resources. data agencies do an extraordinary amount of work in collecting very very, interesting and useful data. but we depiped a few gaps in respect to collection of dwrate on women. so this morning actually, president obama issued a presidential memorandum to agencies which was handed out in the back, which i hope you have in front of you where he encourages all agencies to continue to work together to identify gaps in data collection if they relate to women and seek to address them. the council on women and girls has already been working with a number of agencies to address data collection issues relating to work family life balance, pay equity, domestic violence, so a lot of those efforts are already under way. in addition the president highlight threed additional efforts he hopes agencies will both continue and continue work on. one is the maternal mortality statistic. since 2003, these statistics have been collected for a long

time but since 2003 ability to form late a national statistic with respect to mortality rates has been limited because the states were in the midst of a transition. and other areas in the midst of a transition to a different vital records check system. nchs, national sent are for health statistics is encouraged to work as they have been with states and registration areas to complete that transition so good and accurate maternal mortality and health statistics can once again be gathered on a national basis. in addition the president encourages the securities and exchange commission to work within an existing data collections and seek to supplement them in order to collect data on women in corporate leadership. finally the president asks the federal agency to work on collecting data on women in public life, and women in public leadership roles. those threer big areas in addition to many, many other areas that the council of women and girls have already been working on in which the president specifically asks us

to work and continue this project forward. again, i real wlapet to thank becky and her team which brought the report to reality. kathy and her team within o.m.b. and statistical agencies and really working together in helping to put the datian website live and hopefully we will hear from all of you and we can continue to refine this project and make this a real resource for private researches are as well. thank you. >> thank you for hosting us today. as heather said, i'm tina chen. i'm staff to the first lady and last years have been executive director of the white house counsel sill on girls. it's fitting march women's history month we celebrate the report and its release and wreelly celebrate the

anniversary of the council of women and girls. it's a special pleasure to do it with the culmination of this project. the project itself i have to say is really representative of the theory of the case behind the council. that is as the president said when he signed the executive order that this is the council intended to convey the message across the entire federal government that every part of the federal government has to think about women and girls. everything dwow affects the lives of women and girls and we must all work together do that. collaborative effort that becky and preeta led and katherine and all of our agencies that you saw really demonstrates strength of that and i think really power in numbers that we have with everyone concentrating on it. it also evidences the report illustrates with the data and although not news to those of us in the room that women are getting more educated and in the workforce and yet paid less, i

think the incredible coverage we got this week which i have to thank our communications team in the white house and particularly hanna august and deputy director of jenny caplan really spearheading give us an opportunity to get that information out in front of the american public. clearly people have not gotten that message. we did not get paycheck fairness through last fall and didn't get the message across and really demonstrates how important and how meaningful to really the lives of american women and their families, their husbands, spouses, children, economic security of women are. even as we work to increase our educational levels, get more in the workforce, the fact that there's pay disparity and continuing wage disparity is a real issue we must continue to work on. the data also confirms a lot of things we have been doing in the administration like health care. i'm glad becky pointed out

chronic health disease experience of women. enmoat of you in the room probably know how women experienced real problems with our existing health care system. and these are the system that the american public needs to understand what the impact is on the real lives on american women and their family how things like health care reform, how policy change and changes we are trying to make in the administration really address those issues. prevention care, women's prevention health rules, many of the things that you see in the affordable care act are really intended to prevent things like obesity and heart disease and diabetes and to get at those causes and provide meaningful health care for the 40 million americaners who don't have health care today to address those issues. so having dwrate is an important piece of it. finally before i introduce the panel just touch again, and

again work ago cross our many agencies and that is workplace flexibility. so the other piece heather noted, shriver report highlighted last year and this report continues and becky's slide on how women and men at home spend their time again demonstrate what's many of us know from our own personal lives. and the balancing the demands of work, demands of home, not just when you have young children but when you have older children, elderly parents whfment you yourself may be disabled, when you're trying to get back to education to advance your career. this is not just wame's issue, as the president and first laudy talked about this is issue that affects the entire family. men as well as women. men who want to get home to soccer games and men who are disabled and need flexibility in their work. and it's not just an issue for

the middle part of the workforce. up at the top of the top levels of our businesses all the way down to the line workers and there's probably no current issue in the workforce with that diversality. old, younger, top of the scale, bottom and every place in between i believe we're very much as we move forward with our niv tives in the federal government to get the federal agency to be more work flex scale to have a conversation that our department of labor is having around the country. we have two of four major conversations around the country and as the private sector steps up, we are on the threshold of being able to reorganize work and the way we do work. in a fundamental way not seen since the industrial revolution. we have technology that enables us not to be 9 to 5 or do shift work religiously or do work more

meaningful or adaptive to the needs of our workforce. at the end daste will be more competitive. will result in better results, more -- less turnover rates, more longevity in the workforce, better retire the transitions, better knowledge transfer so it's all very exciting and this report is say piece of it. with that let me turn to our time and have time for questions for all of you as well. i'm joined by heather, our host here at the center for american progress. lynn rosenthal, first-ever white house adviser on violence against women. and the assistant administrator for women's business ownership at the s.b.a. and, again, another big piece of this report. avis, who is one of our great

partners and one of the people who does come and or the of ask me to do things and yell at me but wonderfully always with a smile. i enjoy that. executive director of the national council of negro women has been a stalwart and great spokesperson for women of color throughout the world and finally barbara, the executive director and vice president for the institute for women's policy research. i will start with barbara. one thing brar knows as heidi one of the first meetings hi upon arriving at the white house two years ago was with barbara or hide why and one of the first things in this skeers of people asking me to do thing that's occurred was barbara and heidi saying it would be great if we can have all of the data about women in the federal government in one place. here it is, barbara. if you can make give your observations about why that's important and what the significance is of this report? >> i'm happy to do that.

thank you for the report. it is beautiful as data lover myself. i have to say this is a happy day for me but it is very important to bring the data together with all of the various issues affecting women today. it helps us begin a conversation about all of the various struggles and challenges women face and how these interplay with one another f we look at the wage gap, we've been stuck for a while now. haven't made the progress we have to make. if you look at the public debate, there are people looking for simple solutions. we need to negotiate better. women need to make better choices smven that may be true fufment look at this report and look at women's health circumstances if you look at labor in the home and if women are spending more time taking care of the kids and housework, that gives them a little less

time to bing a superstarp ott job. in a woman has a chronic health condition, that will affect her performance on the job. education affects earnings tremendously. these factors all interrelate. i think the way tina put it was great. we all have a role to play. if we're stuck, we can't just keep spinning the wheels of the vehicle. we to get out and start pushing. all of our institutions need to do something. women need to start coming together and saying half hour per day is all i need and 20 minutes of rest. and then we'll be equals. we need some more of that kind of individual level, communal level women coming together and pushing us as a movement. but all kinds of organizations can make a difference, looking at this lort presents really shocking data on stalking. very common. and that really has an impact on women trying to get to work every day and just feel safe and calm in their circumstances.

many businesses around the country tryering to do something about it. hospitals are doing something about that. so we all really need to come together and look at these issues as a whole and think about how we can push and make a change and make all of these puzzle pieces fit together to make that difference. get to the point where we don't have 28% of single working moms in poverty. we can do better than that where we don't see that african-american women work harder than everybody else and get paid less than just about everybody else. we can do a lot better than that. it's time to really move. data thrike starts a conversation. it allows us to look at where we are, take a hard look and start working together to make a change. >> thank you. so heather just following up on that, what thoughts do you have on, again, why data is important and how to actually improve

data, both collection of data as prieta asked for ideas on and then how it intersects with policy? >> well, thank you for the question. we have a couple of great ideas. first of all, some of the things that -- i can't remember who said it, becky or peter, there is this wide ahave a of data available. and foints to policy thing that's one of the area that's we haven't seen enough information is around those requests for the issues you were talking about. we were very excited this year when we found out the department of labor for the first time in a decade is actually going to stud yim pilotation of the family and medical leave act. that's the first bill that really addresses workplace flexibility in the modern era and we did one survey that's demeel 1995 and one in 2000 and at this point i can't tell you how many people are eligible for the fmla and take it out. so it's exciting -- really exciting about that.

but what we would like to see is because it is the case vast majority of mothers are bred winners for their families, most families don't have a state-run caregiver. this is the kind of data we need to track every year, and in fact would i argue every month. these are the kinds of things we should be tracking with the regular labor force data. for example we know the second thing the administration is doing is the american timing survey are adding a new model around workplace flexibility, new mothle and vazz fantastic. we will know a lot more about what people have access to. what we're still not going to know is on a regular basis how many people are eligible for or using family medical leave act, how many people are el eligible for and using paid family medical leave and how many people eligible but how many people using paid family medical leave in california and new jersey. we can add one little followup question in the monthly population survey pitch here that will say if you weren't at

work last week, is that because you were on family medical leave or paid sick time, and was it paid or unpaid? just small, nirs in the world of data that's actually an enormously heavy lift. paid family leave around the country tpwheend the information to sort of make the case for why this is important and what it means. thank you. >> i want to thank you for spending a lot of time talking about women of color and how women of color are affected. talk about what the report says about women of color and maybe some of the gaps that are evidence in the report. >> sure. this is the best and times and worst of times all at the same time. we are seeing we have experiences that are very similar to women, like other white women, exceling as it compares to our male counterpart. we are doing very well

particularly higher education. but when to comes to getting paid, as we lag behind on male counterparts and obviously as it relates to other women as well. we have a long way to go as it relates to that. one particularly disturbing area is health information. we lag far behind particularly to diseases mentioned earlier like diabetes, hypertension even depression. particularly black women are more likely to indicate they were victims of depression as compared to other women. those are striking and very disturbing. when i looked at what happened with black women also as trelts to the plarkt, in recent years we see we have been particularly impacted by the great recession. you look at where other swrim been impacted as a result of that, you see increases in labor force participation most recently and that has happened as many people called this most recent recess the man-session. huge drop of employment among men but i would argue it wasn't just a man session, it was a black women's session too. because our labor force

participates in rate drops for the first time we've seen recent history, even though we still have higher rates than other women, it has gone down where we saw labor force among other women went up. still with our disproportionally high level of participation, we are still most likely to be poor. our wages lag far behind on any level of education. there's still a lot more than we have to do and we are still working hard and doing all of the right things, plague by the rules, going to college and getting graduate degrees. we're out there in the field and still not being treated fairly. >> i will say the other thing i noticed in the report and as we were putting it together because we were having this conversation is the places where we don't have aggregated data. even though we have the data over all for men and women, we don't have the aggregated data to break it down to really see the picture of women of color. >> still have a need for that and particularly as it relates to asian-american women and as it relates to american-indian women. not even included in this report

so we need more help in those areas as well. >> not all data is good data. it doesn't always sort of come together in the right way. important data regarding violence against women, wless have struggles in that area. would you like to address that? >> one of the things i like to say about this report is the whole list tick approach tells us not just about how women are experiencing violence but the wame experience and recover from violence is connected to employment, education and health so it gives you a full picture of women's lives. the report does show that since the passage of the violence against women act in 1994 incident, the testimony about violence dropped more than 50%. we know the intervention stat, then senator biden now vice president bryden, we have data today that tells us the model created in the violence against women act that brings people

together at the local level, law enforcement, prosecutors, victim services to address violence women are experiencing works. when we fund these efforts to coordinate on the local level, we see better case outcomes and reduce abuse. we also know today that another hallmark, which is victim services in connecting victims up with domestic violence shelters, hotlines yount reach services also makes a difference in their lives. the department of health and human services recently conducted a survey of 3,000 victims in eight states in emergency domestic violence shelters and they found women and -- in shelter overwhelmingly stay in shelter and their connection with victim services made them feel more helpful and set goals and help them understand more about their options. we also know from the research this set of services is connected with reduced abuse.

so the reduction in violence we see success of the violence against women act and so to take us a little bit back in time and put human face on statistics, i want to tell you a story i know sbindy who was battered in 1975. she was 19 years old, newly married, experienced very severe abuse. her husband beat her with a metal pipe on a public street, on a public street in the middle of the date, broad daylight. nobody intervened and stopped to help. she went to the hospital emergency room. many times she was too embarrassed to say what happened to her and then the health care provider said, how are these injuries caused or i see old injuries on your body, how were those injuries caused? she called the police many times. they came to her door and said, what did you do to make him so mad? every time she reached out for help, people blamed her and

allowed the offender to escape accountability. interviewed cindy for a piece i wrote ten years after the violence against women act, i said what does this mean to you we have ten years of violence sherks said, you know, when i was going through this, i was completely alone. every time i reached out for help, people told me it was my fault. i know it's different today but that's how it was for me and followed me the rest of our -- the rest of my life. but today because of the violence against women act, somebody like cindy would have a very different story to tell. whether the law enforcement officer came to her door, he or she would be trained to interview the parties, collect evidence, write a report, make an arrest if there was probable cause to do so. when cindy went to the hospital emergency room the nurse or physician would be trained to ask about all of the injuries they saw on her body, to talk to her privately and link her up with services. and one of the pieces of cindy's

story that i didn't message is she finally fled the violence after she was so severely battered she spent a month in the hospital but she left the hospital completely on her own and was homeless for two years. but today because some of the programs with the violence against women act and some of the other services somebody like cindy would find transitional housing and find services and support to help her recover. i tell her story a little different than the numbers we have been talking about but i tell cindy's story because it puts a women's face on the charts we're seeing and tells us about what this reduction in violence means in women's lives. i do want to say what we need to know more about, dwrate that shows this reduction in domestic violence and annual incidents of demensic -- domestic violence comes from the national crime survey, a self-report survey. and it's part of an omnibus survey of all types of clients so it may not cam chur all of

the incidents of domestic violence that include stalking. the bureau of justice statistics is working on this, they understand the need for more specialized survey, methodology and capture data in these very sensitive areas and we very much support those efforts and want to work with them to make them happen. i should also say we need more data to understand intervention with various communities, particularly for women of color. we need to understand what interventions are most effective. we know 234 in practice with the local level and in the hands of community-based organization rooted in culture and community, that's what works but we need more research and data to really understand this area. i think why we have -- while we have very good news in this report, there's still much we need to learn and we still have much work to do in this area. >> thank you, lynn. thanks for reminding us it isn't all just numbers to have and

what we do affects individual women in profound ways. i love you're pointing out the things we all need when we get to q & a, new things we need to do. by putting the report together, it really shines the light then on all of those gaps that also affect real palestinian and their real lives. and i want to turn to you in the business front. this is a follow on report to people who had to council women and girls -- it is -- women-owned businesses, last year which was so terrific and really pulled together and documented sentencing on women-owned businesses, the rise of women-owned businesses. yet as we still see the economic struggle women undergo. that's really something anna works on at the s.b.a. if you could just discuss that, what does it mean the rise of women business owners and what can we look forward to? >> the rise of women business owners is the perfect example of how good policy and good piece

of legislation could be a catalyst for economic disparity. before 1974 only 5% of privately own companies in the united states were owned by women. then we had the legislation which equaled opportunity act and then to have loans without having a male co-signer very easy, very quick. then we all got off the gate and started opening our own businesses. fast forward to 2007, 30% of presently owned companies are owned by women. i am going to refer to becky's report and that is 8 million small businesses owned by women. in terms of sales and receipts is 1.2 trillion, an economic force. of course, we're talking about

jobs all the time. and that's 7.6 workers. so women bake an economic force. of course not. we want to create more women-owned businesses and actually jobs. so what do we need to do? women are still finding difficulty accessing credit. it's very difficult and we still want to find out why it is, is it because they don't seek it or because they find it difficult and they're protected. so we're focused on women opening their businesses and we have a wonderful network right now of women business interests and only last year 110 women business centers counseled 160,000 women in the country. what is it we want to do? we want to learn the step of how to become independent and open their own businesses. it relates to what you were

saying about pulling african-american women, hispanic women and also what you were saying too is that sense of once you come out of that violent situation, just knowing you can be the master of economic destiny by opening a business really makes a difference in any woman. and in many cases like myself, i chose to open my business because a mexican mother that i am, i wanted to be home with my children. so that allowed me -- >> flexibility. >> it really touches on everything and we need to focus on women really getting prepared to handle this. it's not an easy thing. we want to prepare them to start the business of our way, grow it the right way and to finance it the right way. we're focusing at the s.b.a. and know we're pushing for women in every way we can to make sure we look through a level playing field in terms of opening

business in their own economic disparity. >> before we go to the floor, i want to you say a little about the women and business role. >> absolutely. we're very very, proud of this. of course, we have a lot of bakeries to i. tirks companies and everything in between. for about a decade -- >> ten years. >> ten years, almost 11 years, the federal government is the market that there's for -- the state is not going anywhere. we really wanted women to be part of the federal market. we see what this is for the federal government. so for ten years we have a goal, 5% -- 5% of whatever the government buys should go to women. so we have the goal but we have not been able to achieve it. for many, many